Cork-extractor



(No Model.)

L. M. DEVORB.

CORK EXTRAOTOR.

No. 388.844. WBaJQBnted Sept. 4, 1888.

Witnesses lnvantmw.

M MK T, Zm' 29% Attmqrgys.

UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

LEVI M. DEVORE, OF FREEPORT, ILLINOIS.

CORK-EXTRACTOR.

SPECIFICATION iorming part of Letters Patent No, 388,844, datedSeptember 4, 1888.

Applieatiou filed October 7,1887.

T0 aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEVI M. Dnvonu, a resident of Freeport, in thecounty of Stephenson and State of Illinois, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in OorkFxtractors; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full. clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains tomake and use the same.

The invention is an improvement in cork extractors of the class whereinthe longitudinal motion of the bottle is prevented or arrested by afixed stop, while the axial line of the corkscrew is fixcdand passesthrough said stop.

It is found that in cork-extractors havinga perforated or slotted stopfor the bottle and having the axial iine of the corkscrew fixed, carefulinsertion of the corkscrew near the middle of the cork is necessary toavoid breakage, for if the screw be inserted at one side of the cork thelateral movement required to bring the cork into coincidence with theaperture in the stop causes a strain upon both the screw and the sidewall of the bottle-mouth, often breaking one or both.

To remedy this defect is the object of this improvement. The desiredresult is acconr plishcd by providing a bottle-stop whose plane is, asusual, fixed at right angles to the line of the corkscrew, but which maybe moved bodily in any direction in its own plane.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is an elevation of the base of acork-extractor provided with my devices, the corkscrew be ing indicatedin position in dotted lines. Fig. 2 is a central vertical section of thesame. Fig. 3 shows the base, seen from below with the stop removed.Fig.4 shows the stop alone, seen from above.

In these figures, A is a base adapted to be screwed upon the edge of ashelf or similar I support. It is provided with a bearing, B, and knife0, designed, respectively, for supporting a corkscrew and for splittingand removing the cork as it emerges from the bottle. The horizontalportion of the base A is recessed upon its lower surface, leaving at itsouter margin a flange, I), Figs. 1, 2, and 3, for resting upon the uppersurface of the shelf, to

Serial Noflfilfisi (No model.)

which the whole is fixed by screws passing through the perforations I),Fig. 3. A stop, F, lies in the recess, and is held loosely in cout-tctwith the lower surface of the baseplate by a screw, G, passing through aslot, II, in the stop. The outer end of the stop is provided with anaperlu re, l, forthe passage ofthe cork too small to allow the passageof the bottlemouth. The angle and length of the sloping walls of thisopening bear such a relation to the diameter that the end of the bottlemust always fall within the walls, even if the cork screw be inserted atone side of the cork or near its circumference, and it is plain that sofalling it must tend when pressed against the stop to become concentricwith the opening therein-that is, to take such a position that itsentire circumference bears upon the sloping walls. \Vith constructionsheretofore employed the force with which the bottle end seeks thisposition is a serious strain laterally upon the corkscrew itself andupon the wall of the bottle-mouth. \Vith this construction, however, thestop moves to the right or left,

in or out, automatically accommodating itself to the position ofthcscrew in the cork, and thus prevents serious strain upon either screw orbottle. It does this by swinging and sliding upon the screw G, andevidently. whatevcrits position in its own plane, it offers equallypositive resistance to the bottle end pressing against it.

I am aware that neck-clasping jaws have heretofore been employed inbottle-openers and in eorkextractors; but these accomplish a differentresult in a different way.

I am further aware that a stop offering re sistance to the end or mouthof the bottle has been so constructed as to permit its own replacementby another of different size; but this also is foreign to my invention,and, so far as I am aware, it is new to provide a stop that resistsendwise motion of the bottle, and at the same time admits of adjust mentby the motion ofthe bottle itself in any direction transverse to its ownaxis or to the line of the motion resisted by the stop.

XVhat I claim as now,and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a cork-extraotor,thc combination,with a fixed corkscrew support,of a bottle-stop mounted upon said support and movable in all directionsin a plane at right angles to the corkscrew, whereby axial advance ofthe bottle may be prevented without interfering with its lateraladjustment, and whereby the resistance of the stop maybe applied at allpoints of the circumference of the bottlemouth, whatever its lateraladjustment.

2. The combination of the eorkserewsupport A B, the bottle-stop F,secured in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the corkscrew andprovided with the conical aperture l and with the slot II, and the screwG, passing through said slot and loosely attaching said bottle stop tosaid support, substantially as I and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence oftwo snhscribing witnesses.

LEVI M. DEVORE.

Wit nesscs:

C. V. }RAIIAM, J. A. GRAIN.

